1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an in-vehicle display system that is installed in a vehicle for displaying information to a user.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in-vehicle display systems such as a navigation apparatus and an audio apparatus are known. They are installed in vehicles such as an automobile to provide a variety of information to a user (typically to a driver). In these in-vehicle display systems, the user may enter characters for destination setting on the navigation apparatus, title change of audio data on the audio apparatus, or other situations.
A conventional in-vehicle display system normally adopts a touch-screen system where characters are entered in such a manner that the user touches a command button corresponding to an intended character in a screen displaying a plurality of candidate characters for making entry of characters. A display of the in-vehicle display system, adopting the touch-screen system, needs to be located where the user can touch it. As a result, a limitation for locating the display arises.
Thus, some in-vehicle display systems adopt a structure that a display and a controller member are set separately as follows; the display is located at an easy-to-see location for a user and the controller member is located at the location easily operable for the user. Under this structure, characters need to be entered by using the controller member separated from the display.
One possible example method for making entry of characters is that a user moves a cursor using the controller member for a directional operation to select a character from a plurality of candidate characters for making entry of characters shown on a display screen. This method requires the cursor to be moved one by one up to an objective character on a screen showing a plurality of characters. Here, when inputting a Japanese “Hiragana,” the screen shows a large number of characters included in “Hiragana,” for example, arrayed in order of 50-character syllabary. This method, due to the large number of candidate characters arrayed, requires cumbersome operations, and naturally it takes longer to select the objective character.
In this regard, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2000-249568 proposes a technology adopting a controller member allowing the user to perform a turning operation. Under the technology, turning the controller member at relatively high speed moves the cursor at high speed while skipping unnecessary characters. Besides, turning the controller member at relatively slow speed moves the cursor one by one over the characters.
However, under this technology, a user has to consciously perform two types of operations using the controller member by different manners of a high-speed turning and a low-speed turning. Therefore, the user has to fully get used to the operation of the controller member. Especially it is very difficult to move the cursor accurately up to the objective character with the high-speed turning. It may take longer to select a character due to an error high-speed turning. In an example, an inappropriate high-speed turning moves the cursor far over from the objective character, and this requires extra operations such as a cursor control one by one returning to the objective character.